Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I have decided to award my own personal nobel peace prize for 2009 to Dorie Greenspan and Pierre Hermé for their important efforts to bring World Peace Cookies to kitchens on several continents!

And we have chestnuts to thank for this union of writer and chef. Dorie met Pierre Hermé while working on a story for the New York Times about chestnuts. While in Paris on vacation in the early 90s, she phoned Fauchon (a luxury food shop made even more famous by Hannibal Lector in Hannibal) to find out how candied chestnuts (Marrons glacés) were made and was told to drop by and speak to the chef pâtissier there at the time, who was Hermé. Within minutes of meeting, a friendship was born. Since that encounter, Dorie has helped translate the genius from his lab into desserts we can create in our own kitchens.

One of the most famous creations is this humble sablé cookie. After tasting the all-american chocolate chip cookie, Hermé decided to tinker with the recipe since he found the original too sweet!

"The first time I had chocolate chip cookies in the United States," says Hermé, "I didn't like them at all. I thought they were too sweet, and the gooeyness was not very appealing."

So, what does he do? He comes up with a double-chocolate chip cookie that's sweeter but the sweetness is counteracted by delicate fleur de sel (meaning "flower of salt" that comes from the Guérande region of France). And not just a pinch but half a teaspoon. The salt rounds out the sweetness and brings out the chocolate flavor. Plus, this cookie is of the slice-and-bake variety, which is on the opposite spectrum of the type of patisserie you'd expect from such a chef.

This pleasantly salty, melt-in-your-mouth, chocolate cookie can bring peace to your world (or at least keep the kids from fighting while they're eating these morsels of chocolate heaven).

Tasting Notes
This cookie demonstrates Hermé's perfect marriage of the "three Ts": taste, temperature and texture. They melt-in-your mouth and are best eaten warm with the chocolate slowly oozing out leaving fingers stained with kisses of salted chocolate. In fact, one of my daughters doesn't like chocolate chip cookies but asked to take one of these in her lunch today!

If you don't want to make them in your own kitchen, you can order them online from Hermé's online boutique for 14 EUR, $22 CAD or $18 US! Hermé recommends tea, coffee, Maury, Banyuls Vintage or water, but I prefer milk with my cookies.

"Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you."— All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

We loved them too. I don't like really sweet chocolate desserts so I thought the mild, salty taste was really nice. Love the photo with the milk bottle. I would love to take a look at your butler's pantry one day!

How great is it that you included the link to Herme's online shop in this post?! It's fantastic. I had no idea I could buy the real thing online and I have to admit, I'm tempted, very tempted. Isn't that awful? I mean, I just made them at home, why would I buy them? But I desperately want to know if mine are anywhere close to the real thing. Oh well, starving student and all, I'll just have to content myself with Dorie's recipe.

Your post is fantastic and your cookies look delicious. If I could take pictures half as good as yours, I'd be so happy.

Yay! I am so excited to see your TWD today. I look forward to your posts. The pictures are amazing and I love your back story. I love that you had a glass milk container. I thought about taking a picture with the cookies next to a tall glass of milk. But sadly, we were all out of milk today.

Another great post! Delightful as always. You make me want to join you on Whisk Wednesdays. I love what you do in your kitchen and with your camera!

I used Valrhona chocolate, too. :) Best stuff ever! I love all your 'info' related to the cookies....Im thinking its much cheaper to make my own than order from Pierre. Maybe I should start selling them. Thanks for visiting my page! I love your cookies on top of a milk bottle. So clever!

Absolutely beautiful photography on all this, as usual. Your cookies look great...and your daughter likes them??? High praise indeed! The guys here loved them, too...they were eating them by the handfuls. I am so excited about the Floating Islands...although I probably should NOT learn how to make them as it will be way too tempting once I learn not to do it again and again...I love Floating Islands more than just about any other dessert. Can't wait to see what you do with those!

Awesome post! I loved reading about how it all began. These cookies are amazing, and you are right -- it is because of that perfect marriage of taste, texture and temperature. Yours look gorgeous, of course!